Thursday, September 6, 2012

The Flower Bowl Spell by Olivia Boler

The Flower Bowl Spell :Journalist Memphis Zhang isn’t ashamed of her Wiccan upbringing—in fact, she’s proud to be one of a few Chinese American witches in San Francisco, and maybe the world. Unlike the well-meaning but basically powerless Wiccans in her disbanded coven, Memphis can see fairies, read auras, and cast spells that actually work—even though she concocts them with ingredients like Nutella and antiperspirant. Yet after a friend she tries to protect is brutally killed, Memphis, full of guilt, abandons magick to lead a “normal” life. The appearance, however, of her dead friend’s sexy rock star brother—as well as a fairy in a subway tunnel—suggest that magick is not done with her. Reluctantly, Memphis finds herself dragged back into the world of urban magick, trying to stop a power-hungry witch from using the dangerous Flower Bowl Spell and killing the people Memphis loves—and maybe even Memphis herself.

Olivia Boler created an interesting array of characters, magick and mixed mythologies. I truly loved Olivia’s fairy characters; they were unique and fun to read. The beginning was a little slow to me, but it did keep my interest and the pace picked up toward the middle of the book. There was a great amount of mystery throughout the pages, Olivia concocted so many twists and turns, that I never knew what was going to happen next. Memphis was a strong and vibrant narrator, and I formed a connection to her almost immediately. I admit that I was a little put off by the relationship between Memphis and Cooper, but it truly seemed that they cared for one another so in the end I warmed to them being together. Another character I really enjoyed was Ty, a man from Memphis’ past. I would have liked to have seen him a little more drawn out because he really grabbed my attention. By the end of the book I still had a few questions that were left unanswered, and this left me slightly frustrated. With that exception though, I enjoyed The Flower Bowl Spell from start to finish.